The Retaliation of Officer Devon Wenger: Inside Antioch PD’s Cross-Agency Cover-Up - The “Good Ole Boy Club” Part 2

On June 5, 2023, Antioch Police Captain Tony Morefield delivered the final blow in what had become a relentless campaign to silence Officer Devon Wenger. The pretext was familiar: a new Internal Affairs complaint accusing Wenger of “unnecessary use of force,” “racist texts,” and “insubordination”. No “Officer’s Rights and Obligations” Internal Affairs Investigation was ever issued to inform him that he was under investigation – a direct violation of California Government Code §§ 3300–3311 and the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights (POBAR).

The evidence? Illegally seized cellphone data, obtained without a warrant, consent, or judicial review, and funneled through the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office in direct violation of the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA), the Peace Officers Bill of Rights (POBAR §3303), Labor Code §1102.5, and the Fourth Amendment. Captain Tony Morefield, desperate to discredit Officer Devon Wenger and protect Lt. Robert Meads from serious CLETS database misuse allegations that Wenger had originally exposed, weaponized this tainted evidence. The conflict of interest was glaring: Morefield not only led the investigation, he decided its outcome.

“I have never sent racist texts or been part of those groups,” Wenger stated. “In fact, I reported Romobugh’s racist rants in 2021 and APD leadership did nothing until Wallace’s report.”

Morefield’s ultimatum was clear: sign and admit a lie, or be fired for insubordination. Wenger refused. Facing an intolerable, retaliatory environment, he resigned, a textbook case of constructive discharge. His resignation letter, witnessed by HR Director Ana Cortez, Chief Steve Ford, and attorney Don Noble, documented months of harassment that city officials ignored. By forcing Officer Wenger into a coerced resignation amid sustained retaliation and by failing to initiate any internal or POST-mandated investigation, City of Antioch and APD officials committed actionable violations of state employment law, POBAR, federal civil-rights statutes, and constitutional due process. The omission to refer the matter to POST constitutes both a procedural breach and a concealment tactic that obstructed oversight, converting a hostile workplace into a federally cognizable act of retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Title VI funding conditions.

Federal Coordination Before Any Case Existed

Once federal agents took over, the retaliation only escalated. FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force Supervisory Special Agent Teak Wilson and Agent Armando Delgado-Campos authored a memo titled “Claim Disruption for Antioch Police Officer Devon Wenger’s Resignation.” Attached was Wenger’s resignation letter — where he cited harassment and retaliation, but the memo falsely reframed it as fallout from an FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force probe.

The agents went further, writing: “This disruption has also prevented Wenger’s ability to further defraud the public and government.” No evidence supported that defamatory claim. Nonetheless, it was echoed in law-enforcement databases and soon seeped into the private sector. Chase Bank abruptly closed Wenger’s account, citing his “connection to a publicly reported financial investigation.” The pattern was unmistakable: coordinated, institutional retaliation — using federal resources to financially and professionally destroy a whistleblower. The “Claim Disruption” memorandum authored by SSA Teak Wilson and Agent Armando Delgado-Campos constitutes a direct violation of the Safe Streets Act’s civil-rights assurances, Title VI retaliation prohibitions, and DOJ Justice Manual § 8-2.130 oversight requirements.

By weaponizing a federally funded law-enforcement program to circulate defamatory misinformation, these agents engaged in retaliation under color of federal authority, violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242, the Privacy Act, and the Whistleblower Protection Act, while undermining the integrity conditions tied to DOJ grant funding.

Discovery later revealed that Capt. Morefield had been quietly coordinating, calling in favors from his long time associates and close ties with FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force to establish federal cases against an officer that had reported misconduct against APD Management in his resignation letter. A supervisor of the FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force was previously an Antioch Police Officer, and good friends with Captain Morefield.

Emails show Captain Morefield was sharing Wenger’s private data and internal affairs findings with FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force Special Agents Krystal Templin and Thuy Zoback, a good ole boy gesture to help Antioch PD’s vendetta.

The Pre-Dawn Raid

Two months after his forced resignation, Wenger secured a position as an investigator with the Honolulu District Attorney’s Office. For the first time in years, he felt the dark chapter of retaliation was finally behind him. But that peace was short-lived.

At 5 a.m., the FBI’s Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force launched a SWAT-style raid on his home, four vehicles, armored units, and even a drone surrounded the property to serve a sealed federal indictment. The charges mirrored Captain Morefield’s fabricated Internal Affairs complaint, which had accused Wenger of “unnecessary use of force,” relying on Meads’ tainted IA file and falsified text messages. The indictment also incorporated Detective Wallace’s bogus “steroid” affidavit, derived from an unlawful search of Wenger’s phone.

The cumulative evidence reveals a deliberate and coordinated pattern of misconduct, where internal administrative tools were weaponized to construct a false criminal narrative against Wenger. The absence of a lawful “Officer’s Rights and Obligations” notice, the replication of a manufactured IA complaint in a sealed federal indictment, and the inclusion of a falsified “steroid” affidavit collectively amount to grave violations of state, federal, and constitutional law.

Taken together, these acts demonstrate a conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. §§ 241, 242, and 1519 – executed in direct violation of California Government Code §§ 3300–3311 (POBAR) and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s oversight mandates.

FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force Agents labeled Wenger “armed and dangerous” – a baseless claim contradicted by his spotless record and the absence of firearms or contraband. The spectacle violated both DOJ and FBI arrest-protocol standards requiring minimal force for cooperative defendants. The TOC SWAT request made by Safe Streets Task Force FBI Concord-RA and approved by SSA Teak Wilson, transformed a standard arrest into a potentially deadly operation. Since the indictment was sealed the TOC SWAT members only knew Devon was “Armed and Dangerous”. The FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force’s TOC SWAT stunt for media attention recklessly endangered innocent lives and showed blatant disregard for public safety.

Jailhouse Retaliation

After arrest, Wenger was placed in general population at a federal detention facility with no protective custody and denied access to counsel for 48 hours – a clear violation of his Sixth Amendment right. For three days, he went without clean clothes, hygiene, or even a phone call to a lawyer or his wife. These deliberate conditions weren’t bureaucratic error; they were punitive measures meant to break a whistleblower before he could speak to a lawyer or appear before a judge. Such treatment flouted federal detention standards and the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

A Bond Meant to Intimidate

At his first court appearance on August 29, 2023, prosecutors demanded, and a magistrate approved, a $100,000 secured bond. For a first-time, non-violent defendant with deep community ties, the amount was excessive. To justify it, prosecutors falsely labeled Wenger as “armed and dangerous,” a reckless mischaracterization designed not to ensure justice, but to destroy him. The tactic worked, branding a whistleblower as a threat guaranteed his public humiliation and financial collapse. The message was clear: speak out, and you’ll be silenced.

Trials Fabricated and Perjured Oaths

The Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs) handling the case; Eric Cheng, Alethea Sargent, Ajay Krishnamurthy, Alexandra Shepard Weaponized “motions in limine”, suppressed exculpatory evidence, and misled Judge White. Fought to keep out all discussion of retaliation, evidence tampering, or misconduct. AUSAs appeared all too eager to ride this runaway train of tainted evidence at trial. Come to find out Eric Cheng since early February 2022 had been working hand-in-glove with the FBI Concord-RA Safe Street Task Force and Contra Costa County DA Investigators holding weekly briefings as the investigation unfolded. By the time of indictment and trial, the AUSAs adopted and amplified the misleading evidence points.

Case 23-CR-00268 which charged Devon Wenger with conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids (and related evidence destruction), was marred by egregious misconduct. The trial resembled theater built on lies, with multiple government actors bending the truth to secure a conviction. Three officials in particular took the stand (or otherwise influenced proceedings) and effectively turned perjury into policy:

FBI Concord-RA SSA Teak Wilson: Falsely told jurors that Wenger barricaded himself and frantically deleted phone data before arrest. Internal VCC logs proved Wilson knew Wenger was not home and Wilson coordinated a meeting spot with Wenger at the boat storage facility. In which Wenger surrendered his cell phone cooperatively. Exposing this claim as a deliberate lie.

USPS Inspector Sukhdeep Singh: Swore under oath that no detailed USPS tracking data existed for a suspect package. A subsequent FOIA release revealed full tracking scans and showed the package’s weight inexplicably doubled while in custody – indicating evidence tampering that Singh’s testimony concealed.

Contra Costa DA Investigator Darryl Holcombe: Testified that Wenger deleted text messages to obstruct the investigation, yet failed to disclose that his own phone extraction log inexplicably omitted several hours during while in his & FBI Concord-RA custody. In truth, the data was manipulated by Holcombe & FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force to create a false impression of deletions.

FBI Agent Krystal Templin: Presented incomplete phone data (cache fragments) as if they were real, incriminating messages when briefing the grand jury, while omitting deleted contacts and context that would have exonerated Wenger. This misled the grand jury and tainted the indictment process.

AUSA’s: Reinforced all these false narratives in court, introducing cherry-picked, prosecution doctored exhibits and suppressing exculpatory evidence (a clear Brady violation). Cheng echoed the misleading points to the jury despite knowing the full context of the fabricated text message data.

Each broken oath and twisted fact in this case protected a bigger agenda: a vendetta against Wenger. In effect, federally funded task force resources (through DOJ “Safe Streets”/TOC-West) were used to retaliate against a whistleblower by fabricating evidence and truth itself. Case 268 stands as a stark example of justice subverted by those entrusted to uphold it.

Case 23-CR-00269 charged Wenger (and other Antioch officers) with civil rights violations (conspire to violate rights). However, this prosecution appears driven more by retaliation against Wenger as a whistleblower than by justice. Federal prosecutors and task force agents shaped a narrative while concealing serious irregularities. Key violations in this case included:

Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence: The prosecution team (AUSAs Alethea Sargent, and Alexandra Shepard) resisted disclosing evidence that might have aided Wenger’s defense. They withheld proof of data tampering, witness vendettas, and manipulated text messages (text messages purpose to prove conspiracy) – clear Brady/Giglio violations. Misleading the Court: By framing the case as a righteous takedown of a “bad cop,” prosecutors misled the court and jury. When evidence later proved agents had fabricated communications, the prosecution either failed its duty to disclose or, worse, knowingly presented falsehoods. This breach of candor made them complicit in an apparent frame-up.

AUSA’s Alethea Sargent, and Alexandra Shepard knew the truth – they just chose to bury it using “motions in limine” Devon Wenger’s 2021 whistleblower complaint had ignited the very probe that later turned against him. The same officers he exposed – including Sergeant Eric Rombough – were repackaged as federal witnesses, and the DOJ’s own Safe Streets Task Force, funded to fight organized crime, was hijacked to settle personal scores.

That’s not law enforcement – that’s sanctioned corruption. It violated the Justice Manual’s own mandates, including Title 8 §§ 8-2.130 and 8-3.120, which require Civil Rights Division oversight in any color-of-law case to prevent conflicts of interest and retaliation. No such oversight ever existed. DOJ ethics canons under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.101 and 28 C.F.R. § 45.2 were shredded in plain sight. The prosecution hid it from Judge Jeffrey S. White, concealing the paper trail that would have exposed the retaliatory origins of the indictment.

This wasn’t a trial. It was a performance built on deceit – a weaponization of federal policy against a whistleblower who dared to tell the truth. The DOJ owes the public more than silence; it owes accountability. Case 269 isn’t just a miscarriage of justice – it’s a mirror reflecting a federal system that forgot its oath.

Politics, Promotion, and the Price of Silence

The FBI Concord Safe Streets Task Force, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office under Diana Becton, Antioch Police Department leadership, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office all had something to gain from taking down Officer Devon Wenger. Becton wanted the optics of being a reformer. Her investigator, Larry Wallace, needed a “dirty cop” trophy. Antioch city officials needed Wenger out of the way to bury their own internal scandals. And federal prosecutors wanted résumé-building headlines from a high-profile case.

This coalition of agencies Antioch Police Dept, Contra Costa County DA & Investigators, FBI Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force & assigned AUSA’s collectively, fabricated digital evidence, tampered with postal records, and manipulated testimony to frame Wenger.

Their motives were as self-serving as they were corrupt: career advancement, political leverage, and public acclaim as supposed champions of “police reform.” In truth, they conspired to pervert justice, deceive the courts, and destroy a whistleblower for telling the truth. When fully exposed, this case will stand as a chilling example of how those sworn to uphold the law used it instead as a weapon of retaliation.

The Civil Case – Redemption

Wenger’s fight for justice continues, he filed a formal EEOC complaint against the City of Antioch. Within hours, the EEOC issued a Right-to-Sue letter – confirming that a federal agency saw clear evidence of retaliation. No matter how many times the City of Antioch or Northern District DOJ tries to bury the truth or smear Devon Wenger’s name, his civil case C25-00578 is far from over. With no more legal loopholes to hide behind, every thread of the cover-up can finally be pulled into the open—for the judge, the jury, and the public to see just how far those in power were willing to go to silence the one honest cop who tried to do the right thing.

What Accountability Looks Like

Devon Wenger is calling for the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to open internal investigations into the misconduct that defined his case. Under federal policy, the Department has full authority to vacate the charges, discipline prosecutors and agents, and sanction the offices involved. The Justice Manual is unambiguous: a prosecutor’s duty is not to win at any cost, but to ensure fairness. In U.S. v. Wenger, that duty was willfully abandoned.

What happened to Officer Devon Wenger is not just another local corruption scandal, it is a textbook case of how the justice system can be weaponized by those willing to break the rules. Every major player in this saga — from Antioch PD brass to Contra Costa County DA investigators and forensic examiners, from the FBI’s Concord-RA Safe Streets Task Force to Assistant U.S. Attorneys – trampled federal law, DOJ policy, and basic ethical standards in a coordinated campaign to destroy a whistleblower. Their methods were chillingly familiar: perjury, evidence tampering, retaliation, and lying under oath – all to silence a truth-teller and advance their own careers under the false banner of “reform.”

Every step of this frame job represents an abuse of power – precisely the kind of corruption the Department of Justice claims to fight. The question now is whether DOJ and FBI leadership have the courage to root out corruption within their own ranks, or whether the cover-up will continue behind closed doors.

To prevent this kind of systemic retaliation, all law enforcement agencies must strengthen protections for whistleblowers. Policies mean nothing if, in practice, an officer can be isolated and ambushed for speaking the truth. Independent monitors or inspectors general should be required whenever an officer reports internal misconduct, ensuring local politics cannot taint investigations.

The FBI and DOJ must also re-examine how joint task forces operate. When local agents – such as those in the FBI’s Concord-RA office, partner with local departments, there must be vigilance against manipulation by local vendettas. Requiring dual federal authorization for any case originating from internal police or county DA complaints could prevent abuses like Wenger’s. Likewise, DOJ must begin enforcing its own nondiscrimination and anti-retaliation grant conditions with real consequences, pulling funds from agencies that use federal money to target whistleblowers.

At its core, this comes down to integrity. Every law enforcement officer must decide whether loyalty lies with a clique – or with the Constitution. For a time, Devon Wenger chose the latter. He was one of the good ones – a cop trying to expose bias and abuse within his own department. His reward was a nightmare of retaliation. That is not just an indictment of those who led Antioch PD, it is a warning for the entire justice system.

But Wenger’s fight also embodies the cure to the “good ol’ boy” culture: courage, persistence, and truth. Through his legal battle, he forced evidence into the light that would have otherwise been buried. Every memo, every email, every document now telling the real story exists because one man refused to stay silent.

Speak Up. Speak Out. Speak Truth.

The Retaliation of Officer Devon Wenger: Inside Antioch PD’s Cross-Agency Cover-Up – The “Good Ole Boy Club” Part 2